Responses

Hey Winslie, here is a quick question unrelated to yuor posting. How would you advice a typical ballroom dancers on their mambo steps? I have these two students keep repeating their favourite ballroom hip sway thingy in the class and have told them so many times not to do it but go with the flow yet … they have been doing the pause and sway in the class.

hey … Will put your blog on mine for references and links if you dont minid!

Thanks Kwokino
That’s a damn good question and as an ex-ballroom (as a kid) I can empathise with the hip sway! Though it’s an unrelated question it is however a crucial part of the overall vocabulary of any salsero & salsera’s dancing dictionary.

Ballroom exaggerates movement in order to have a visual effect. Without getting too technical if we analyse the hip movement it occurs when you move your foot either forward or back and then on planting that foot, begin to allow that foot to take the weight of the body so that there is a whiplash type of effect where the hip rotates to absorb the momentum.

The best way to overcome this is to not transfer the weight on to the feet entirely. The closest explanation I read somewhere was the “bus-stop pose”. While waiting for the bus to arrive; You stand on one leg and the other leg is extended but no weight committed to it.

IF we translate that to a basic mambo LA style:
On 1 the left leg, taking a small step goes forward, keeping the knees slightly bent reduces the chance of locking out into a traight leg to get the hipsway.QUICK
On 2 the left leg takes the weight of the body on the ball of the foot, knees still slightly bent (or soft) which allows the right leg to lift and replace.QUICK
On 3 the right leg takes the weight on the ball of the foot which allows the left foot to travel back for the SLOW.
repeating the same pattern backwards for 5 etc, etc